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Latest Articles: Economy
Report: Soros Unloads All Investments in Major Financial Stocks; Invests Over $130 Million In Gold
Post Date: 2012-08-17 17:13:12 by Capitalist Eric
3 Comments
In a harbinger of what may be coming our way in the Fall of 2012, billionaire financier George Soros has sold all of his equity positions in major financial stocks according to a 13-F report filed with the SEC for the quarter ending June 30, 2012. Soros, who manages funds through various accounts in the US and the Cayman Islands, has reportedly unloaded over one million shares of stock in financial companies and banks that include Citigroup (420,000 shares), JP Morgan (701,400 shares) and Goldman Sachs (120,000 shares). The total value of the stock sales amounts to nearly $50 million. What’s equally as interesting as his sale of major financials is where Soros has shifted his money. ...
David Stockman: Austerity Is Not Discretionary
Post Date: 2012-07-20 15:02:06 by Capitalist Eric
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The next Casey Research Summit, cohosted by Sprott, Inc. and titled Navigating the Politicized Economy, will feature another former White House official who is speaking out against irresponsible government spending: David Walker, the United States Comptroller General from 1998 to 2008. Joining him will be a blue-ribbon panel of other financial experts, including top market strategist Donald Coxe, legendary bond investor Lacy Hunt, and investing legends Doug Casey, Rick Rule, and Eric Sprott... and that's just for openers. Together, they'll help you understand where our politicized economy is today, where it's going, and how to profit from the whole mess. Learn more and register ...
Consumers Flash Warning Signal
Post Date: 2012-07-16 18:49:10 by Capitalist Eric
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At the end of last year we began discussing the issues of the excessively optimistic analysis of the mainstream media and analysts which were confusing a skew in the seasonal data caused by an unseasonably warm winter and global Central Bank interventions with an organic economic recovery. (See the report "Pollyana Meets The Economy" for a primer - free membership required) The problem with maintaining an "optimistic bias", which attracts readers and viewers for media driven outlets, is that it fogs the lenses of logical thinking. The recent releases of consumer sentiment and retail sales are clearly a story of an economy, while statistically growing, remains in ...
A Cretan Writes A Heartfelt Letter To The Greek IRS
Post Date: 2012-07-16 18:33:57 by Capitalist Eric
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The Greeks, who have long since become Guniea Pigs for Europe's real time experiment in restructuring itself without actually i) impairing any debt, ii) injecting new capital, or iii) having any idea what the endgame really is, are increasingly starting to just say no and revolt. Yes - the small Mediterranean country may have fallen off the front page news briefly, or until the current government is also ejected bringing us to a repeat of late May, early June, its citizens are getting ever bolder in refusing to comply with the relentless attempts of the European superstate to syphon off as much wealth as it possible can from the weakest and the poorest. To wit, in the letter below, ...
Shale will free US from oil imports, says ex-BP boss
Post Date: 2012-07-14 08:34:47 by jwpegler
3 Comments
The big growth in oil extracted from shale rock means the US will not need to import any crude within two decades, the former boss of BP has said. Lord Browne told a conference in Oxford the US would be "completely independent of imported oil, probably by 2030". He also said the amount of shale gas in the US was "effectively infinite". Shale oil and gas is extracted using a method called fracking, but the process has been controversial because of the environmental risks associated with it. Lord Browne is a director of fracking firm Cuadrilla. He told the Resource 2012 forum on water, food and energy scarcity that the development of shale oil and gas was "quite ...
Barack Obama's Presidency Economic Report Card – FAIL
Post Date: 2012-07-11 13:18:22 by Capitalist Eric
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We are now three and one half years into Barack Obama's presidency. I thought a few pertinent charts would help us assess the success of his economic policies. Upon his election he demanded an $800 billion stimulus package in order to keep the unemployment rate from surpassing 8%. The $800 billion was to be spent over two years we were told and then government spending would be scaled back to pre-stimulus levels. There were 145 million Americans employed when Obama was elected. There are 9 million more working age Americans today than there were in 2008. There are now 142.4 million employed Americans. So, we've added 9 million potential workers and still have 2.6 less Americans ...
Mainstream Economics is a Cult
Post Date: 2012-07-05 11:57:03 by Capitalist Eric
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Neoclassical economics is a cult which ignores reality in favor of shared myths. Economics professor Michael Hudson writes: [One Nobel prize winning economist stated,] “In pointing out the consequences of a set of abstract assumptions, one need not be committed unduly as to the relation between reality and these assumptions.” This attitude did not deter him from drawing policy conclusions affecting the material world in which real people live…. Typical of this now widespread attitude is the textbook Microeconomics by William Vickery, winner of the 1997 Nobel Economics Prize: “Economic theory proper, indeed, is nothing more than a system of logical relations ...
New Home Sales "Beat" - What This Means In Context
Post Date: 2012-06-25 15:11:24 by Capitalist Eric
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Moments ago new home sales came in at 369K, a "big beat" to expectations of a 347K print and up from the 343K previously. What does this mean? The chart below sums it up.
Dr. Michael "The Big Short" Burry's "Brutal Hangover Is Inevitable" State-Of-The-World UCLA Commencement Speech
Post Date: 2012-06-23 12:04:38 by SJN
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Infamous for his prediction of the great recession, Europe's demise, and the collapse of the US financial system (as well as profiting extremely handsomely from said predictions), so well captured in Michael Lewis' book "The Big Short", UCLA's Dr. Michael Burry undertakes UCLA's Economics Department's commencement speech with much aplomb. In this "age of infinite distraction", the astounding truthiness of this 15 minute speech is stunning from single-sentence summation of Europe's convulsions that "when the entitled elect themselves, the party accelerates, and the brutal hangover is inevitable" he reminds us that Californians, and indeed ...
Moody’s Cuts Credit Ratings of 15 Big Banks [MARGIN CALL!!!]
Post Date: 2012-06-22 17:20:02 by Capitalist Eric
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Already grappling with weak profits and global economic turmoil, 15 major banks were hit with credit downgrades on Thursday that could do more damage to their bottom lines and further unsettle equity markets. The credit agency, Moody’s Investors Service, which warned banks in February that a downgrade was possible, cut the credit scores of banks to new lows to reflect new risks that the industry has encountered since the financial crisis. “The risks of this industry became apparent in the financial crisis,” said Robert Young, a managing director at Moody’s. “These new ratings capture those risks.” Citigroup and Bank of America, which have struggled to fully ...
Americans Are Delusionally Optimistic
Post Date: 2012-06-22 17:16:47 by Capitalist Eric
1 Comments
Exactly three years ago, we launched this daily e-letter… and needless to say, it’s been eventful. It should be clear by now that the topics we routinely discuss in our daily conversations are actually happening: - The grand fiat experiment is unraveling. - Governments are, in fact, going bankrupt. - And they’re turning the heat up against their own citizens in a desperate attempt to maintain the status quo. Here in Europe, bank runs are becoming commonplace, and depositors are being frozen out of their accounts without warning. Politicians in many countries have seized private pensions and are once again touting capital controls as the panacea. Meanwhile, privacy ...
Heads a Deflationary Implosion – Tails a Hyperinflationary Depression...
Post Date: 2012-06-19 18:01:30 by Capitalist Eric
2 Comments
The acute global economic crisis today is the direct result of the continued wilful obstruction and overriding of the normal checks and balances that should operate within a capitalistic system of commerce. This interference has been perpretated by powerful banks and governments acting in collusion, for reasons of profit and power. At every instance in recent years when it looked like the economy was slipping into a necessary recession they have assumed a godlike role and stepped in to head it off. These periodic recessions are necessary to prevent excess debt building up within the system, but the banks liked the ever growing debt, because it meant ever bigger profits for them as they ...
It's About Reality, Not Austerity
Post Date: 2012-06-15 06:48:07 by CZ82
1 Comments
It's About Reality, Not Austerity By J.T. Young on 6.14.12 @ 6:08AM A state cannot run an economy and a state-run economy cannot sustain its state. Today's European debate isn't about governmental austerity, it's about governmental reality. Ultimately, the argument is not whether governments can keep trying to stimulate their economies, but when their creditors will quit financing it. Somehow, Europe's governments, teetering on tilting economies, have missed this point; we can only hope that Washington hasn't. We are witnessing a prolonged domino-effect among the world's economically intrusive states. It began over two decades ago with the fall of the USSR ...
This Just In: Most Americans Blame Bush Too!!!
Post Date: 2012-06-14 09:01:15 by war
3 Comments
Americans continue to place more blame for the country’s ongoing economic problems on former President George W. Bush than on President Barack Obama, a new survey shows. Though Bush has been out of office for nearly three and a half years, 68 percent blame him a “great deal” or “moderate amount” for the nation’s economic woes, according to a Gallup poll released Thursday. Meanwhile, 52 percent of Americans believe the same about Obama. There exists a partisan divide on who blames who for the current economic distress, but Republicans are more willing to blame Bush than Democrats are willing to blame Barack Obama. In fact, 49 percent of Republicans said Bush ...
Forget Three Months: Italy May Have Two Weeks Tops, As It ‘Already Is Where Spain Is Heading’ [Economic Collapse Continues]
Post Date: 2012-06-13 18:44:54 by Capitalist Eric
1 Comments
Yesterday, Austrian finance minister Maria Fekter ruffled the unelected Italian PM's feather by saying "forget Spain, Italy is next in the bailout line" - a statement which as expected was promptly loudly refuted, mocked, and scorned by everyone possible: the type of reaction that only the truth can possibly generate in Europe. So far so good: after all the typical European reaction to any instance of the truth is loud screams of "lies, lies" and promptly sticking your head deep in the sand. However, this time around Italy may not have the benefit of the doubt, nor the benefit of some sacrificial replacement of a prime minister: Silvio is long gone, and at this ...
Obama, after tough week, defends record on economy
Post Date: 2012-06-12 17:41:36 by We The People
1 Comments
OWINGS MILLS, Maryland (Reuters) - Barack Obama stoutly defended his economic record on Tuesday after a stream of bad news - and an uncharacteristic verbal misstep of his own - rallied Republican hopes that they can defeat him in November. Acknowledging there is still a "long way to go" to repair the damage done by a recession he inherited, Obama insisted the American economy was on the right track despite recent signals that the country's recovery might be fading. "What we have been able to do over the last 3-1/2 years, after a decade in which we had been moving in the wrong direction, is to begin to point towards a trajectory where here in this country, everybody is ...
The US Labor Market Is In A Full-Blown Depression
Post Date: 2012-06-07 14:44:37 by Capitalist Eric
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Now that stocks are back to reflecting nothing more than expectations of how many times the Chairsatan dilutes the existing monetary base in a carbon copy replica of not only 2011 but also 2010... and 2009 (because contrary to what purists may believe, the only way to inflate away unsustainable debt in a growth-free economy is by destroying the currency), and manic pattern chasers have crawled out of their holes proclaiming the death of the bear market after a two day bounce, what is happening in the actual economy, no longer reflected by the market, has once again been pulled back to the backburner. Which is sad, because while ever fewer people reap the benefits of artificial, ...
Crisis Economic Conditions
Post Date: 2012-06-07 14:39:19 by Capitalist Eric
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Global economic data signal trouble. Headlines reflect worsening conditions. The Financial Times said America’s dismal jobs report and world economic weakness raise “fears of a sharp global slowdown” or worse. According to the London Guardian, Britain and Euroland face a “deeper recession after figures showed manufacturing output slumped at its fastest” rate in three years. The Daily Telegraph said oil hit a 16th month low below $100 a barrel. At Friday’s close, WTI crude stood at $83.26. Brent slumped to $98.63. Declining prices signal weakness. The London Independent worried about “worldwide panic” as Dow prices plunged 275 points. It was the ...
US Factory Orders Post Surprise Fall in April [SURPRISE?]
Post Date: 2012-06-04 14:19:09 by Capitalist Eric
1 Comments
New orders for U.S. factory goods fell in April for the third time in four months as demand slipped for everything from cars and machinery to computers, the latest worrisome sign for the economic recovery. Jetta Productions | Getty Images The Commerce Department said on Monday orders for manufactured goods dropped 0.6 percent during the month. The government also revised its estimate for new orders in March to show a steeper decline. Economists had forecast orders rising 0.2 percent in April. The report showed broad weakness in a sector that has carried the economic recovery, adding to a growing body of soft economic data. The Labor Department on Friday reported that job creation ...
Baltic Dry Index Signals Renewed Market Collapse
Post Date: 2012-06-01 13:20:07 by Capitalist Eric
4 Comments
Shipping tipping point? Much has been said about the Baltic Dry Index over the course of the last four years, especially in light of the credit crisis and the effects it has had on the frequency of global shipping. Importing and exporting has never been quite the same since 2008, and this change is made most obvious through one of the few statistical measures left in the world that is not subject to direct manipulation by international corporate interests; the BDI. Today, the BDI is on the verge of making headlines once again, being that is plummeting like a wingless 747 into the swampy mire of what I believe will soon be historical lows. The problem with the BDI is that it is little ...
US Unemployment and the Ubiquitous 'Zombie Job' Market
Post Date: 2012-05-31 17:13:18 by Capitalist Eric
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Yesterday was Memorial Day. We said a prayer for all the brave men and women who died in war…after all, we have a heart! But the brain never quite gets in sync. When it looks at what those soldiers were doing, it wishes they had never left home. America’s wars were almost all ‘wars of choice,’ says a friend. “They were fought to expand the power of the empire. The Mexican-American war was a bald-faced grab for Mexican land. The ‘Civil War’ was a battle to bring the South into submission. The US took Puerto Rico and the Philippines in the Spanish American war. President Wilson took the US into WWI simply to throw our weight around in Europe; we had no dog ...
Wells Fargo Seizes Stockton, California City Hall [Sign of the Times]
Post Date: 2012-05-31 16:51:13 by Capitalist Eric
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The Stockton City Council announced Wednesday that they will look at bankruptcy contingency plans after Wells Fargo seized the new city hall building. The city paid $35 million to buy the 8-story building, but was not able to move in because of its money problems, and recently stopped making debt payments all together. This is the fourth building that was repossessed by Wells Fargo; the bank seized three city parking garages for the same reason. Just wait to financial problems start to put a squeeze on state governments. California and Illinois are high up on the list. They might be able to scrape by for another year or two, but that's it.
Auto Jobs: Sign of the Times [20,000 people applied for 877 jobs]
Post Date: 2012-05-30 19:06:16 by Capitalist Eric
3 Comments
Hyundai Motors America Montgomery Manufacturing Plant It should not come as a surprise with unemployment over 8% that good paying jobs in manufacturing are harder than ever to land. At the Hyundai plant in Montgomery, Alabama more than 20,000 people have applied for one of the 877 job openings. The surge of people applying may seem unusual, but it's not. Take a look: Last summer Ford had more than 18,000 people apply for one of 1,800 jobs at the retooled Louisville plant. That plant will open and start building the Edge SUV in mid-June. In 2011, more than 41,000 applied for one of the 1,300 positions at the new Toyota plant in Tupelo, Mississippi. In 2009, more than 65,000 ...
Economic Recovery or Collapse? Bet on Collapse - Financial Crisis Could Destroy Western Civilization
Post Date: 2012-05-29 19:13:51 by Capitalist Eric
1 Comments
The US financial system and, probably, the financial system of Europe, like the police, no longer serves a useful social purpose. In the US the police have proven themselves to be a greater threat to public safety than private sector criminals. I just googled “police brutality” and up came 183,000,000 results. (Here are two recent brutal assaults, one deadly, by police on hapless individuals: latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2012/05/kelly-thomas-video-dad-they-are-killing-me-.html and www.informationclearinghouse.info/article31364.htm ) The cost to society of the private financial system is even higher. Writing in CounterPunch (May 18), Rob Urie reports that two years ago ...
Turn Out The Lights - The Largest U.S. Cities Are Becoming Cesspools Of Filth, Decay And Wretchedness
Post Date: 2012-05-25 15:21:39 by Hondo68
13 Comments
Once upon a time, the largest U.S. cities were the envy of the entire world. Sadly, that is no longer the case. Sure, there are areas of New York City, Boston, Washington and Los Angeles that are still absolutely beautiful but for the most part our major cities are rapidly rotting and decaying. Cities such as Detroit, Cleveland, Baltimore, Memphis, New Orleans, St. Louis and Oakland were all once places where middle class American workers thrived and raised their families. Today, all of those cities are rapidly being transformed into cesspools of filth, decay and wretchedness. Millions of good jobs have left our major cities in recent decades and poverty has absolutely exploded. ...
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